Karen's Corner

I know how incredibly hard it can be to make diet and lifestyle changes. With that in mind, I never ask a patient to do something that I am not willing to do myself, so here's my confession...

My own diet had been creeping closer and closer to the 'standard American diet' (SAD) in recent months, so for the month of August I gave myself the same challenge I'll now give you; cut out the processed food, sugar, dairy and alcohol for one month and see how you feel. If you aren't convinced at the end of that month, take a day and eat all those things things you think you missed and see how you feel afterward.

That's exactly what I did, and my post-"cheat" day experience wasn't pretty! I basically had a sugar hangover for about 3 days. I was sluggish, moody, and my skin broke out. My belly got bloated and grumpy and my hands even started to ache a little bit again. All these things had cleared up during the month of August. Hmmmm...pretty clear evidence that stuff ain't right for me, right? Right. So now I'm back on the clean eating band wagon. I know I'll have a little something here and there, but I also know that if I listen to my body when I do have a "treat," I will be back to my good habits ASAP.

If you are interested in taking the month long challenge, let us know! We are happy to support you in your transition to clean eating. We can help prepare you for the first week - there will be cravings, detoxing and anger, but you'll get through it!

"I don't know why I'm doing this and I might just go postal without some sort of sugar...a donut, a chai, a cake. Yes, a whole cake! I can't feel any worse than I do anyway."-Journal entry from Day 3 of clean eating challenge (with some editing to allow for a PG-13 audience).